2012 Destashing Thread

[dreamin_disney]

I haven't been able to do much decluttering and nothing is selling on CL

I'm hoping to try and get back into my decluttering zone lol!

I've been talking to dh about doing a coupole of entertaining parties. It would be fun but it means my spare room and garage really need to be hit hard and cleaned out. I just wish this darn weather would cool down and the humid weather would disappear. Its to hot to get into the mood.

 

[comicguy]

Have 3 books ready for donation

Recycled several magazines

Not munch this week maybe I will get something done this weekend!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Sorted through 2 bins of summer clothes, narrowed it down to 3/4 of a bin. That was just stuff in the loft, now I need to purge the rest of my summer stuff in the house. I did the shorts, just need to do the shirts. Hopefully it will all fit in the one bin.

I also pulled the fall/winter bin down to sort and wash.

DD found 2 coats and tried on both. One fit perfectly, the other fit ok in the body but was a little short and the sleeves were too long. I told her to pick one and she picked the one that fit perfectly.

I got rid of 3 totes of Christmas ornaments.
Got rid of a 7 1/2 foot tall Christmas tree.

Had to trash a bin that a mouse got into. The tree skirts and a stuffed tree that mom made me were ruined. I think I can salvage my angel, that is the only thing I need to salvage. I may have to take her apart to wash the clothes but I'm 95% sure she will be ok. Mom can make a new stuffed tree if I want. 3 of the skirts had no sentimental value. One kind of did but we haven't used it since DS16 was little so I'm not broken hearted over it.

Sorted all Christmas decor into their proper bins. 1 for Disney trips, 2 for home, 1 for each of the kids, 1 for boxes and bags, 1 for bows, 1 for wrapping paper, and 1 for elves. I really wish I could pare them down more but while we maintain a house and a motorhome, it is what it is.

I merged FIL, MIL's, and DH's childhood ornaments into her suitcase. I have a plan for those, I just need to build the shadowbox for them.

All that just because I wanted to put the AC units away. LOL the boys had trashed the loft looking for toys so I had to clean it up.

 

[ilovepete]

I've sold a few things and donated quite a bit this week. Moving right along!

 

[comicguy]

Found two more books to get rid of!!!

Sold 30 more comics!!!

 

[Tweevil]

I cleaned out my junk drawer and my desktop in my room. Baby steps going on here...

 

[cluvsdisney]

Today is the day. We have this big closet that has become the dumping ground for all things we didn't know what to do with. I have the day off. DH is at work. It's getting done. I expect a lot of things in there to be donated, recycled or tossed. Can't wait. I just need to wake up first.

 

[danielle79]

Have been working on cleaning out the basement, in hopes to finish it this winter. I would love an extra living space so my growing children have a place to hang out with friends. We moved last May and our new huge basement became a dumping ground for the stuff we didn't know what to do with. My issue is totes of clothes and decorations.

 

[StephMK]

I am still collecting things for the neighborhood sale this week. I am starting to move the piles to the garage but need DH to help me with a few larger pieces. I will be glad to have all this stuff out of house and will take the leftovers directly to Goodwill on Saturday.

Today I have found 7 more books that I can let go. Hope to go through another section of the basement tonight. I know there is a large box of puzzles that are meant for little kids. My youngest is 10! I am keeping no more than 3 for sentimental reasons and will sell the rest.

It is looking more and more likely that we will be moving next year. I think we will probably live w/my parents a few months til we find something so I plan to use pods for moving. I keep thinking, do I really want to pay to store this and it's been pretty easy to let stuff go!

 

[cluvsdisney]

I finished the closet!!

I have a trunk full of stuff to drop off at the thrift store & animal shelter. There's a handful of items worth the effort to sell. Everything else went in the trash. I started with a closet that barely closed, to a closet with barely anything in it.

I have 1 more closet and then the desk (lots of drawers & cabinets) and then I can move on to the storage space downstairs. ::

 

[dreamin_disney]

I've been working a lil in my spare room. I shredded 1-2 grocery bags of bills. I have been filling up a large gallon trash bag ( i think its a 23gallon bag). It's 1/2 full. Dh and dd will be gone all day tomorrow so i will have time to get stuff done.

I havent beeb to lucky on craigs list lately so some of my items might be going to donation pile..

We are having a party at the end of the year so I hope to get rid a lot of items by then.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

How do I get DH on board with me. DS and I cleaned out the toy box in the shed. We got rid of tons of stuff only to have DH get upset and put it back. It is stuff that the kids have not used in years and years. I also have to confess I am bribing my son with cash to help me. I have realized I can't work all the time and get this done. I need help. I set up almost weekly pickups from the vets for donations so I get stuff out but I don't see much change yet. Anyone else feel this way? Maybe I am crazy but I want a "Better homes and garden home" not my home full of dust collecting clutter. How do I get everyone on board?http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/crazy.gif

 

[delmar411]

I would have gotten rid of everything before my DH came home. LOL That's normally my go to solution when I'm not sure if DH will want to hold onto something.


I worked yesterday in the kitchen and our bedroom. DH and I had spent Wednesday afternoon pulling all the gifts from our closet and making sure they were on my gift list and then put everything away nice and neatly. Plus I kept out the gifts for YDD's b-day on the 2nd. So I'm feeling nice and prepared for birthdays. (I got cupcakes ordered too! I'm ahead of game this year)

In our room we've had a ridiculous problem with fruit flies so I went crazy in there and cleaned, dusted, decluttered everything in the room. I still have to get DH to help me move the mattress so I can clean the bed rails but that's about it. I have a huge bag of trash and a big bag of donations plus a couple bags of trinkets for the school's treasure box (all brand new kiddie items).

I have to start pulling out suitcases soon since we are leaving in a couple weeks but now I have space and clear areas to work with.

This weekend my goals are switch out the kids seasonal clothes. It's getting chilly here now so the kids want to wear long pants to school. So if I can get that all done, it should help with storage issues since winter clothes take up more storage space.

And I want to get rid of the small white dresser on our upstairs landing. That means I need to figure out some storage solution for the clothes in there. I know I have some empty rubbermaid bins (thanks to this thread!) so that might work if I label them.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

How do I get DH on board with me. DS and I cleaned out the toy box in the shed. We got rid of tons of stuff only to have DH get upset and put it back. It is stuff that the kids have not used in years and years. I also have to confess I am bribing my son with cash to help me. I have realized I can't work all the time and get this done. I need help. I set up almost weekly pickups from the vets for donations so I get stuff out but I don't see much change yet. Anyone else feel this way? Maybe I am crazy but I want a "Better homes and garden home" not my home full of dust collecting clutter. How do I get everyone on board?http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/crazy.gif

I think you need to ask DH why he's so upset that you wanted to get rid of stuff. Maybe his parents tossed all his stuff as he grew up and as an adult it upset him not to have those things to pass down to the kids. There a lots of things I wish I still had, so I learned and kept a few things for each of my kids. Maybe you can come up with a compromise on saving a few sentimental items and getting rid of the rest.

I will come back shortly with a pic of a solution we had with matchbox cars. It might help give you some ideas.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

I usually try to get rid of stuff when the DF is not home. Not anything special just stuff no one has used in years. As far as DH, his mom has all his old toys he was never allowed to use them outside. We do have items saved for kids including TONS of Gi Joe's and their cars (wow they are worth money already but DS would never sell), large pop corn tins full of match box cars (was used for toilet training) DD has a few teddies from WDW (again worth a ton of money duffy bears in weird colors and she would never sell too bad the one bear would pay for an entire trip) doll house, rescue heros and some wooden toys. So it is not like I got rid of everything. I was thinking one crawl space/closet is enough. We live in an old house where closet space is premium. Who knows when or if they have kids they would even want to have the stuff. So how do I get DF on board? DS says he does not want anyone over due to our house. It is not hoarded just cluttered but maybe there is no difference.

 

[StephMK]

We had our sale on Thursday and cleared $145 after 4 hours. Not bad considering that other than collecting stuff around the house in advance, I just tagged it as I set it out that morning. This sale was much nicer than the first one I had a few years ago. No major hagglers, everyone was very nice & we sold a ton of little things.

The biggest bonus was that I set out some free things like an old computer desk, TV, and bookcase storage unit that were too heavy to easily haul and they were all taken!

I bagged up the leftovers since we didn't really have enough for the second day. There are a few things I'll try on CL but the rest is already in the car to donate this weekend.

DS went through the toys under his bed and I need DD12 to go through her clothes again. I plan to tackle the rest of the garage this weekend while the weather is nice. I have gone back through some drawers & closets & feel pretty good about what is left. Plan to go to GW tomorrow or Monday once I have more of a load to take over there.


The basement is my last major project because I have bins and bins of photos and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle those. Do you make albums for each kid or just family albums? I have stuff to make scrapbooks but have not made many at this point.

 

[delmar411]

I usually try to get rid of stuff when the DF is not home. Not anything special just stuff no one has used in years. As far as DH, his mom has all his old toys he was never allowed to use them outside. We do have items saved for kids including TONS of Gi Joe's and their cars (wow they are worth money already but DS would never sell), large pop corn tins full of match box cars (was used for toilet training) DD has a few teddies from WDW (again worth a ton of money duffy bears in weird colors and she would never sell too bad the one bear would pay for an entire trip) doll house, rescue heros and some wooden toys. So it is not like I got rid of everything. I was thinking one crawl space/closet is enough. We live in an old house where closet space is premium. Who knows when or if they have kids they would even want to have the stuff. So how do I get DF on board? DS says he does not want anyone over due to our house. It is not hoarded just cluttered but maybe there is no difference.

Also consider whether DF will allow DS to have those items once he's grown with kids of his own. If not, then it's just hoarding.

My IL's saved everything of DH's. They even bought doubles and have them new in the boxes. YET, DH isn't allowed to have any of HIS toys back for our kids. And the IL's have filled their house full of stuff. So much that when I first was dating him and I went to their house, I was helping his mom with laundry and I didn't realize the room I was in was the garage. I thought it was just some packed full storage room! Apparently there are a couple cars under all that junk too.

So I'm pretty firm with DH about keeping stuff just to keep it. I always tease him about "valuable plastic". Helps keep the destashing tension at bay.

 

[delmar411]

The basement is my last major project because I have bins and bins of photos and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle those. Do you make albums for each kid or just family albums? I have stuff to make scrapbooks but have not made many at this point.

Have you considered photobooks? It would be a major project to scan in all the photos but once they are in the computer and backed up and uploaded to a photo site, you're pretty secure to get rid of the paper copies and just keep negatives.

And then as free photobook codes come up, you could make books based off the time period. Like Jan-Jul of xyz year and Aug-Dec of the same year.

The photobook take up so little space and if you got the same size each time they woudl line up nicely on a book shelf.

 

[cluvsdisney]

So it seems I nagged DH into decluttering.

He said less stuff was the lesser of two evils especially since he didn't have a reason to hang onto things we haven't used or thought about for years.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

Delmar 411

First of all, our MIL must be related. Same here only she would not even let him play with the toys when he was younger.

Second, if you have anymore info on scanning and uploading to make books I am interested as that is my major hurdle.
Last week I started shredding doubles of photos of the kids when they were young. I guess so that I could not take them back
Sentimental is my issue. I have a hard time. Just plain ordinary stuff is easy.


Going to try to list roller blades today on CL. Do people still use them? Or maybe donate them.